Birdwatching trip report - Poland

Watching with Waldemar

(Or the spotting of birds during our holidays in Poland with Waldemar Krasowski as our guide)

Several species of birds that became uncommon or extinct in the industrialized and agricultural parts of Western Europe can still be observed in those areas of Poland where the required dynamics of their natural habitat have (as yet) not been disturbed. Examples of such ‘dynamic’ areas are the primeval forests of Bialowieza and the meandering Biebzra River which floods in winter covering large areas in the middle of the Biebzranski valley marshes. These areas are sufficiently large to maintain herds of large mammals such as elks, wolves, red deer and wisents, water mammals such as otter and beaver and raptors that require large habitats such as eagles and eagle owls. Moreover, they are surrounded by the type of ‘traditional’ farmlands that are needed by several bird species that have become threatened by the agriculture changes that occurred over the last 50 years in Western Europe: for example, yellow-hammer, tree pipit, ortolan, shrike and skylark.

We therefore selected Poland for our holidays with birding as our planned and targeted activity. Shopping on the Internet for suitable opportunities and offers in Poland resulted in several hits from which we selected Waldemar Krasowski as our guide and organizer by taking expertise, price and availability during the preferred and planned period (September) as our main criteria. This proved to be a very lucky decision since we experienced one of our best ever holidays during the period between our meeting with Waldemar and his trusty Opel Corsa at Warsaw airport and our departure from the same location one-week later.

Waldemar had organized all activities by composing a program for the spotting of birds, by booking and selecting the two guest houses near the Biebzra and Bialowieza reserves. (Key to the choice of guesthouses was the wonderful food for excellent Polish breakfasts, on-the-road lunches and evening dinners! In his hands the Corsa appeared to be a most reliable off-the-road car (even on Ukrainian petrol) that could take us along any rural road (often with deep and muddy holes) as needed to reach the required viewing spots (or bird restaurants in the terms of Waldemar).

Waldemar Krasowski is not only a licensed Polish guide as required for entry into the off-the-public-road areas in the Biebzranski valley marshes and the Bialowieza forests, but was also a very pleasant and reliable guide and companion. Moreover, he is a professional bird photographer who also runs a recovery centre near Warsaw for damaged raptors and owls with the aim to prepare them for a returnto their natural habitat. His expertise for recognizing the sounds and the subsequent determination of the bird with binoculars and scope was excellent. We especially learned a great deal from him about appearance and behaviour of raptors high up in the sky and woodpeckers as species that could in particular be observed in September when several migratory species such as most waders (especially the bitterns) and storks (black and white) had already left Poland. This relative scarcity of waders at the Biebzra borders might also be related to some damaging impact of invading minks.

September in Poland has its own charm and beauty with the changing colours of the trees and the foggy marshes in the evening when nature is already preparing for the approaching severe Polish winter. We will always remember a crystal clear evening after sunset in the middle of the marshes with the rise of a beautifully coloured full moon at the horizon that lighted patches of fog that partly covered a group of assembling cranes in the far distance. An overwhelming silence marked the far cries of these cranes, the shriek of an owl and the low and deep, far-reaching call of a male elk that felt the start of the mating season in his veins.

From our notes, we have listed the following raptors that could be spotted by us during the 3 days we stayed at Biebzranski Park as well as during our next passage to Bialowieza during the fourth day when we also visited the Bachury fishing ponds and the wetlands near the Siemianowska dam in the Narew river at the Belarusian border:

Eagles (white tailed-, spotted-, lesser spotted-, short-toed eagle and osprey), harriers (Montague- and marsh harrier), migratory buzzards (including honey buzzard and rough legged buzzard), goshawk and falcons (peregrine-, red-footed-, sparrow- falcon and hobby).

Spotting of birds at the Siemianowka dam was greatly facilitated by the railroad from Byelorussia that divides, with only an occasionally crossing freight train with waving engine drivers, the wetlands upstream from the dam. Excellent spotting by telescope from this railroad was possible for elks, white tailed eagle and lesser spotted eagle. Upstream wetlands had been formed instead of the required full reservoir as an unintended result of this dam for which millions of zlotys were wasted in the eighties since it could not generate any electricity. These wetlands are the only positive outcome of the foolishness of politicians, burocrats and constructors since an operational dam would also have resulted in an environmental disaster by interrupting the dynamics of the Narew river as an essential element for the wetlands and Biebrza marshes located further down stream.

During the remaining three days of our holidays in the Bialowieza forest we were greatly impressed by its unspoiled beauty with not only giant trees but also trees in various stages of decay providing dinner tables (including several smithies) for at least 9 species of European woodpeckers (including also a nutcracker) that could be spotted by us such as:

Lesser-spotted, middle-spotted, great spotted (not common!), Syrian, white-backed, three-toed, green, black woodpecker and wryneck.

The part of the forest that is of primeval origin and strictly reserved (40 km2) offers breeding facilities for 110 species of birds, i.e. 10% more than in the remainder of this huge forest of 160 km2 showing that the dynamics of an unspoiled nature is essential for some species. Spotting in the forest is often incidental. We were lucky to spot the hazel grouse, tengmalms owl and also happy to hear the sound of the tawny owl that is breeding in large quantities in these woods. These woods can hopefully be kept in their present splendour despite the potential danger of an in the water supply due to some draining of water to Belarus. During our excursion in the Bialowieza forest we had an unplanned meeting with the Mr Wisent (i.e. the dominant male of the local herd of bison) who within 10 meters stepped out of the bushes and fortunately decided not to pay any attention by continuing his grazing in an imperturbable fashion whilst at the same time cracking any obstacle that separated us.

On the last day during our return to the airport we stopped in the wetlands along the Bug River and at the Stawinoga fishponds near Warsaw (at the connection of the Bug and Narew Rivers) as the expected breeding spaces for bitterns. They already had left but as a consolation prize we saw several snipes in the wetlands possibly also preparing for their seasonal migration to less harsh areas.

As mentioned, we could not have enjoyed such a fantastic holiday without the essential guidance of Waldemar who we really can recommend as a guide. Waldemar including his website (www.Birdguide.pl) can be contacted in the following ways:

W. Krasowski [valdi99@wp.pl]
http://www.BirdGuide.pl/
mobile: +48 501087147

Cathy Brant and Willem Bergink prepared this visit report.

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